The present invention relates to awards issued by gaming machines such as slot machines and video poker machines. More particularly, this invention relates to cashless bonus awards issued by gaming machines.
There are a wide variety of associated devices that can be connected to a gaming machine such as a slot machine or video poker machine. Some examples of these devices are lights, ticket printers, card readers, speakers, bill validators, ticket readers, coin acceptors, display panels, key pads, coin hoppers and button pads. Many of these devices are built into the gaming machine or components associated with the gaming machine such as a top box which usually sits on top of the gaming machine.
Typically, utilizing a master gaming controller, the gaming machine controls various combinations of devices that allow a player to play a game on the gaming machine and also encourage game play on the gaming machine. For example, a game played on a gaming machine usually requires a player to input money or indicia of credit into the gaming machine, indicate a wager amount, and initiate a game play. These steps require the gaming machine to control input devices, including bill validators and coin acceptors, to accept money into the gaming machine and recognize user inputs from devices, including key pads and button pads, to determine the wager amount and initiate game play. After game play has been initiated, the gaming machine determines a game outcome, presents the game outcome to the player and may dispense an award of some type depending on the outcome of the game.
As technology in the gaming industry progresses, the traditional method of dispensing coins or tokens as awards for winning game outcomes is being supplemented or replaced by ticket dispensers which print ticket vouchers that may be exchanged for cash or accepted indicia of credit in other gaming machines for additional game play. An award ticket system, which allows award ticket vouchers to be dispensed and utilized by other gaming machines, increases the operational efficiency of maintaining a gaming machine and simplifies the player pay out process. An example of an award ticket system is the EZ Pay™ ticket system by International Game Technology of Reno, Nev. Award ticket systems and systems using other cashless mediums are referred to as cashless systems.
Cashless systems, such as the EZ Pay™ ticket system, provide advantages to both game players and casino operators. For example, many players find it more convenient to carry an award ticket than a large number of coins. For gaming machine operators, cashless systems tend to reduce gaming machine operating costs. For example, the infrastructure needed to remove and count indicia of credit (e.g. coins, tokens, bills) from the gaming machine may be minimized when it is replaced with a cashless system, which reduces the gaming machine operating costs and machine down-time. Further, coin dust, which is potentially damaging to the components of the gaming machine (e.g. electronic components) may be eliminated or minimized when the cashless system is added to or replace the coin acceptor.
Currently, cashless systems have become very popular and have been embraced by customers. For example, ticket vouchers that are generated upon cashout and redeemed for cash or gaming machine credits within a particular casino are well accepted by game players. When a ticket voucher is generated in a gaming machine, the ticket voucher is typically printed on a media of some type such as paper. Various voucher parameters including a voucher value, an issue time, a place of issue, an identification number, graphics, etc., may be printed on the paper ticket. In addition, the voucher parameters may be stored electronically at some location for verification and auditing purposes. Once the ticket voucher is printed, a customer may remove the ticket and may utilize it for additional game play or may redeem it for cash.
While cashless systems such as EZ Pay™ represent a significant advance in the art, cashless games and applications are still in their infancy, in some regards. Therefore, other cashless applications remain to be developed and implemented.